Allison Away to College

Wednesday, September 12- Monday, September 17

I’m not convinced that there is a singular word that can summarize the joy and excitement but also keen sadness of sending one phenomenal confident child off to an exceptional university for the first time. But after 18-1/2 years the both short and long process has come.

Wednesday, September 12--Grandma and Grandpa Wood arrived the evening before and assisted with getting three other kids up in the morning and off to three other locations.  Allison helped drive Grandpa Wood around to a couple of them for familiarity. We had packed a majority of her college necessities into my van the night before.  We put some last luggage and items in and then headed off for a 10 hour drive to Salt Lake City.  Allison navigated us to a Panera Bread in Las Vegas for lunch.  We arrived at my parents SLC condo around 8:00 p.m. and settled in a bit.  They are in extreme closeness in proximity to a Blue Lemon restaurant, which Allison loves a particularly dinner dish at and do not close until 9:00 p.m.  I also ran across the sidewalk to Desert Book upon seeing a video advertisement, while eating, for a Los Angeles Temple book that I decided I must have.  We walked around the SLC Temple Grounds and headed back for bed.  Lauren, my sister who is currently temporarily living with my parents, arrived home from work and we snapped a "selfie" (yes, in pajamas) because it'd been a while.  Jeremy had been in Washington, D.C. for a few weeks and was departing there this same morning to return to Las Vegas.  He bought a personal ticket from Vegas to SLC to arrive around 12:30 a.m. Thursday morning and join us for the rest of the journey.

Thursday, September 13--We packed our stuff back up and headed on the road for Idaho Falls, where we had a hotel for the next few nights.  The drive from SLC to Idaho Falls (IF) is about 3-ish hours.  Idaho Falls is about 30-40 minutes from Rexburg, where Allison will be attending college, and (probably due to the college move-in weekend, was both 1/2 the price of staying in Rexburg as well as accepting government rates at the equivalent Marriott's).  We had lunch at Applebee's (or Chili's) and then did some shopping at the mall for a few needs and necessities.  We spent some time walking around the IF Temple and other locations with views.  For dinner at the Olive Garden, we met one of my freshmand year college roommates whose oldest was also heading off to the same school for the first time (and fun fact, Allison and their daughter Katie were born on the same day in the same year).

Friday, September 14--Move in day at BYU-Idaho.  Many traffic signs along the highway telling parents what exits to utilize.  Highway exits with orange diversion cones and police cars in the intersections.  Allison's shared bedroom roommate, Sierra, had arrived and was mostly set-up.  We helped Allison also "mostly set-up", too.  That day and the next were completely filled with potential student or parent presentations.  We each picked and chose a few.  We had lunch in the "cafeteria" which is really much more like a mall food court with the exception that everyone pays at the same exit.  We ran "errands" like getting her I-Card, checking on her scholarship, paying her tuition, etc.  Allison has most of her books online, for no additional fee.  She did however, need a Spanish textbook which could only be purchased from the college due to an online code needed.  There is a fabulous system where you can purchase books from the college bookstore ahead of time, request that a staff member collect and package them, and then you come and retrieve.  The retrieval process consists of swiping your I-Card in a machine which prints off a slip of paper telling you which colored line to follow, which room to enter, and which bag with number to pull off the rack and then followed by exiting the room where a staff member scans the barcode.  Shortly after Jeremy and I split with her to head different directions, I ran into Singapore friend and new college student Kennedy Chandler.  Jeremy, Allison and I had dinner at the "new student" luau.  Allison spent the night in her new apartment while Jeremy and I headed back to IF.

Saturday, September 15--Jeremy and I brought Cinnabon to Allison for breakfast.  We did some grocery shopping, put "Dining Dollars" on her I-Card, checked on the scholarship again, went and talked to the Army R.O.T.C. office, attended some presentations, walked campus, shopped in the bookstore, toured some other apartment complexes and met up again to take some photos and say good-bye.  And then we left her...

Jeremy and I spent the night in IF, having dinner at Lucy's Pizzeria with two of my roommates from my sophomore year who also coincidentally had their oldest girls starting at BYU-I.

Sunday, September 16--Jeremy and I left IF and drove 9 or 10 hours to Las Vegas, stopping for lunch at a Mexican fast food place and picking his government car up at the Las Vegas airport.  Jeremy had dinner at In-n-Out on the Strip and we walked over to the Bellagio to see the fountains.  We made use of the hotel hot tub and then SLEPT.

Monday, September 17--Jeremy and I had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel and each headed home, about 3-1/2 (ish) hours.  Allison sent pictures of the sunrise from her apartment and a "First Day of School" picture.  She'd been up earlier for her PT (physical training with those in the R.O.T.C.) and it was 38 degrees two hours later.  She stated that she was going to be a "popsicle" this year.